A group of ex-militants in the Niger Delta, Saturday issued the Federal Government a 21-day ultimatum to address the fundamental problems of the oil region.
The group had earlier called for the scrapping of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP and in its place the implementation of 25 per cent application of the crude oil earnings to the region.
The ex-militants in a statement by Edward Kalamazoo, aka General Foreman, said that the Federal Government has till the end of September to address its demand or face the consequences.
The statement read: “It is a sad development that the federal government has not yet shown a willingness to tackle the underlying issues in the region as regards granting of Amnesty in the region.”
“It is important that to solve the problem of the region, the federal government needs to abandon the Presidential Amnesty Programme, and in its place, implement the recommendation by the government-appointed committee, some years back, which stated that Niger Delta states should receive 25 per cent of the country’s oil revenue, as against the present 13 per cent.
“We want to know and see the infrastructural development of the Niger-Delta region, according to the original master plan of PAP, which is the peace agreement that the government and PAP representatives have not disclosed to the region.
“Because of bad representation, some people genuinely in the amnesty programme, even from phase one at Obubra, Cross River State, have received no monthly stipend.
We hope the authorities screen and verify the delegates because they filled the payrolls for stipends with corrupt manipulations.
“We further call for training and education. They should immediately attend to the first, second and third phases that have received nothing. They should use non beneficiaries for beneficiaries’ slots. They should pay genuine agitators housing and wardrobe allowances from 2011 to date.
“The aim of the amnesty programme hinges on maintenance of peace and security in the region; enhanced human capital development in the region and the amnesty programme is to provide the enabling environment for people in the region to key into the programme and achieve development.
“Key players have frustrated these broad objectives hence they could not stop vandalization of crude oil pipelines. They structured the programme to achieve these, and we do not even know the stage we are now, whether disarmament or mobilisation process; rehabilitation/action plan for the holistic development of the Niger Delta as a region,” the ex-militants complained.
